1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packet-switched communication network wherein nodes having routing protocols and at least one network element (such as line repeater) having no routing protocols are interconnected in a ring configuration, and more specifically to alternate routing of management messages during network failure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Routing of management messages and alternate routing of traffic during a link failure in a ring network are currently implemented with the TCO/IP protocols installed in each node of the network. In a network where a simplified network element having no protocols is provided between two adjacent nodes, the address of each of these nodes is used for routing a management message to the network element. However, when the link between the network element and one of these adjacent nodes fails, they have no ability for routing the management message to the network element even though an alternate route is available.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Specification Hei-7-264184 discloses a method for routing network traffic during link failure by broadcasting hunting messages through the network to search for an alternate route. However, since this method is implemented with an algorithm at the application level, the prior art has low reliability and takes long to recover from the link failure.